The real meaning of enlightenment is to gaze with undimmed eyes on all darkness.

Forgiveness is giving up all hope for a better past.

The root of all mind is your own present pure awareness. Rest in that essence without seeking elsewhere.

You are your own teacher. Looking for teachers can't solve your own doubts. Investigate yourself to find the truth - inside, not outside.

The difference between misery and happiness depends on what we do with our attention.

Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely.

A flower falls, even though we love it; and a weed grows, even though we do not love it.

The Buddha's path is not about becoming somebody different but about becoming more and more who you really are.

It is never too late to turn on the light.

We can learn to be present with whatever is happening in our lives, and in this way, we can begin to transform our relationship to difficulty.

When we see the nature of the mind, we see that we are not our thoughts.

The zazen I speak of is not meditation practice. It is simply the dharma gate of joyful ease.

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

The more you are motivated by love, the more fearless and free your actions will be.

People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth.

In the beginning, nothing comes, in the middle nothing stays, in the end nothing goes.

Real happiness comes from having an unshakable connection to the deep wellspring of peace and happiness that is not dependent on external conditions.

The key to transformation is not to fight with our experience but to open to it with awareness.

Problems that remain persistently insoluble should always be suspected as questions asked in the wrong way.

In the moment of pure noting, there is no self - only the knowing and the known.

The first step toward faith is to admit that we don't know everything.

Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible be found in us.

What you are is what you have been. What you'll be is what you do now.

The stages of insight unfold naturally when mindfulness is continuous. There is no need to desire them or try to make them happen.

The essence of meditation is not something complicated or exotic. It is simply taking a break from our habitual patterns.

Just as the wise do not take a mirage to be water, nor an echo to be a voice, so the enlightened do not take the world to be real.

Metta (loving-kindness) becomes truly effective only when it arises from a peaceful mind, a pure mind, a balanced mind.

Even if you speak of 'understanding,' this understanding is not a matter of knowledge. It is what fills the entire body and mind.

Do not mistake understanding for realization, and do not mistake realization for liberation.

The purpose of studying Buddhism is not to study Buddhism, but to study ourselves.

Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun.

Our defilements are like tame tigers. If you feed them, they're tame. If you stop feeding them, they'll eat you up.

The truth of suffering is not to be feared but to be understood through direct observation.